The Cubs inked Reed Johnson to a 1-year deal for the 2012 MLB season.  After spending the 2010 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Johnson rebounded with the Cubs in 2011.  He started 49 games and racked up 266 at-bats in 111 games.  He gained significant playing time with a nice .309 batting average and an impressive .816 OPS.  Johnson’s role with the Cubs will remain as the 4th outfielder behind Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd and recently acquired David DeJesus.

Looks like I didn’t miss too much while I was on vacation last week – the Cubs offered Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena arbitration before the required deadline – yippee!

Ramirez is clearly gone, so I guess it is a good move.  Ramirez is a Type B Free Agent, so if he signs with a different team this winter, the Cubs will get a sandwich pick in the June amateur draft from the team that signs him.  There is little to no chance that Ramirez accepts arbitration before the December 7th deadline since he is the top 3rd baseman free agent on the market, so it looks like the Cubs will get a sandwich pick next year.  If for some odd reason he did go to arbitration he would likely get somewhere around $17-18 million for the season.

Pena, on the other hand, is a little bit trickier.  The Cubs paid Pena $10 million for his services in 2011.  Pena led the team with 28 home runs, and while he is looking for a long-term deal like Ramirez, there may not be too many clubs out there looking to sign the 33-year old long-term.  Pena could go to St. Louis or Milwaukee if Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder depart for greener pastures.  The Cubs will likely be in the mix for Fielder, especially with about $50 million coming off the books with the departures of Ramirez, Pena, Carlos Silva, Kosuke Fukudome and John Grabow and a potential trade of Carlos Zambrano which will free up cash after the 2012 MLB season ends.

The Cubs did not offer arbitration to Kerry Wood, Reed Johnson, Ramon Ortiz, Rodrigo Lopez or Grabow.  I bet Wood comes back on a one-year basis for as long as he wants to pitch.  Not so sure about any of the other guys, but I doubt it given the new management in place.

Let’s hope Theo, Jed and Dale are all hunkered down figuring out the next step in the process…

Manager Mike Quade was all out of ideas as he watched Sean Marshall blow the save in his 1st chance as the Cubs “new closer”.  Yippee.  Think Quade is happy that he went ahead and accepted this awful Cubs managerial post?!

Quade called on Marshall to pick up a 2-inning save after Matt Garza gave up a lead off hit in the 8th inning.  My question is this – if you were going to pull Garza if he allowed a runner to reach base, and since he had already thrown 113 pitches in 7 innings pitched, why not just pull him for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 7th inning instead of having him lead off and strike out?  Sure you might not get an insurance run, but Reed Johnson and Aramis Ramirez each singled later that inning, so you never know.  And then maybe you use Kerry Wood or someone else in the 8th inning and bring in Marshall to close the game in the 9th.  Forcing Marshall to pick up a 6-out save in his 1st big chance since replacing Carlos Marmol as the club’s closer just did not seem like the smart thing to do.  And this is just another example of why the Cubs have to be questioning Quade as the long-term manager of this team…

That being said, Marshall did not perform well.  And after allowing the tying runs in the 8th inning, Marshall still could have kept his team in the game.  But he allowed 2 more runs in the 9th inning and the Phillies won 4-2.  Marshall has now allowed 7 ER in his last 6 appearances.  Not good.

Lost in the shuffle was Matt Garza who turned in another good start.  Garza pitched 7+ innings, allowing just the 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5.  He has clearly emerged as the ace of the staff as he has lowered his WHIP to 1.31 and his ERA to 3.80.

The top of the order was en fuego against Cliff Lee.  Johnson had 3 hits and a run scored.

Starlin Castro had 2 hits and knocked in the Cubs only 2 runs in the 1st inning with a line drive 2-run HR.

And Aramis Ramirez had 2 hits in 4 at-bats to raise his batting average up to .302.

The Cubs are now 39-59 and they trail the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers by 13.0 games in the NL Central race.

It was not the way the Cubs wanted to start their 2nd half of the 2011 season – with 3 losses in 4 games to the Marlins at Wrigley Field.  In Sunday’s 7-5 loss, Kerry Wood was the goat – giving up 3 ER on 2 hits and 2 walks in the 8th inning with the game tied at 4.  Just like that, the Cubs were on their way to another loss.

Randy Wells had pitched OK in his 6 innings – 4 ER on 8 hits and 3 walks with 4 K’s.  On a humid, steamy day, Wells gave the bullpen a much-needed break with his 102-pitch effort.  His 1.74 WHIP and 6.71 ERA are well above his career averages.  Coming off of a solid spring, Wells was injured in his 1st start and has struggled mightily since he returned to the Cubs starting rotation back on May 28th.

Aramis Ramirez had 2 hits, 2 RBI’s and a run scored in the loss.  He is now hitting .300 on the season.  Reed Johnson and Starlin Castro each had a hit, an RBI and a run scored in the game.

The Cubs host the Phillies at Wrigley Field for a 3-game set this week.  They get to face Roy Halladay tonight, Cliff Lee on Tuesday and rookie stud Vance Worley (5-1, 2.15 ERA) on Wednesday. Can you say sweep?!?!

What an awful display of baseball from the Cubs on Tuesday as they dropped a day-night doubleheader by the score of 19-10 to the Giants at Wrigley Field.

In the opener, Doug Davis allowed the worst hitting team in baseball to score 10 earned runs off of him in 4+ innings.  Davis surrendered 12 hits and issued 3 walks during his embarrassing outing.

Reliever Chris Carpenter did not fare much better in his 1 2/3 innings of work – 2 ER on 4 hits and 1 walk.

Carlos Pena hit another home run – his 17th of the season – and Koyie Hill also added his 2nd home run of the season in a nice 2nd inning that tied the game at 3.  But the Cubs squandered some great chances to score against Ryan Vogelsong as he allowed 10 runners to reach base in his 5 innings of work.  Starlin Castro’s hitting streak came to an end with his 0 for 5 effort.

The 2nd game didn’t get much better.  Rodrigo Lopez allowed 4 runs (only 1 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks in 4 2/3 innings pitched.  Granted 3 of his runs were unearned because of Reed Johnson’s fielding gaffe, but you’ve gotta pick each other up.  John Grabow tried to get Lopez out of the 5th inning, but he allowed the 1st 4 batters he faced to reach base with a walk and 3 hits before he recorded the final out of the inning.  But by then, it was too little too late as the Giants regained a 6-2 lead over the Cubs.

Luis Montanez hit his 1st career major league home run off of Barry Zito in the 3rd inning.  His HR gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.  Aramis Ramirez also hit a solo home run in the 9th inning. Starlin Castro started another hitting streak by going 1 for 4 in the loss.

Let’s hope Ryan Dempster can bring his “A” game against Tim Lincecum tonight.  Lincecum is only 6-6 on the year, but he has a nasty 3/16 ERA and 1.19 WHIP with 113 K’s against only 38 walks in 105+ innings pitched…  The Cubs are a season-low 16 games under .500 at 32-48.

The Cubs dropped the final 2 games of the Yankees series over the weekend at Wrigley Field to fall to 29-42 on the season – 10 gamed behind the Cards and Brewers.  Both games were nationally televised broadcast losses and they erased some good “mojo” they had developed after taking 3 of 4 from the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley earlier in the week and the opener of the Cubs-Yankees series on Friday afternoon.

Randy Wells pitched 6 solid innings, allowing 4 ER on 5 hits and 4 walks.  He was hurt by Starlin Castro’s quick attempt to get a double play in the 4th inning with a runner on 1st base and one out.  Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano were both safe on Cano’s weak grounder in front of home when Castro pulled his foot off the bag at 2nd base on Geovany Soto’s throw.  Castro should have made sure that he got the lead runner at 2nd base, but he didn’t, and then his throw to 1st in an attempt to get the speedy Cano was late.  Both players were safe and both came around to score to cut the Cubs lead to 4-3.

Sean Marshall pitched a perfect 7th inning, but then surrendered back-to-back hits to start the 8th inning.  Manager Mike Quade opted to go with the righty Chris Carpenter to make Nick Swisher bat from the left side and he made them pay with a 3-run jack to deep right field.  Just like that, the Cubs 4-1 lead turned into a 7-4 deficit with a few key plays.

Reed Johnson had 2 hits and a run scored in the loss.  Aramis Ramirez continued his hot hitting by going 4 for 5 with a run scored.  Alfonso Soriano hit his 6th career homer off of Yankees’ starter CC Sabathia with his 3-run shot that gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead in the 3rd inning.

The Cubs travel down to the south side to take on the White Sox this week.  Carlos Zambrano makes his 1st appearance in U.S. Cellular Field since he had a 1st inning outburst during last season’s inter-league play when he felt like certain players were not giving their all.  Big Z was suspended for his actions and forced to take anger management classes.  Zambrano goes against Gavin Floyd tonight in the opener of the 3-game series.

Carlos Zambrano struggled for the 2nd straight start since calling out closer Carlos Marmol for blowing a save in which Big Z stood to get the win back on June 5th against the Cardinals.  Since then, Zambrano has given up 12 ER on 16 hits and 9 walks to the Phillies and Brewers, both games which the Cubs have lost.  After having some impressive outings earlier this season, Big Z has been a mess of late with his ERA rising to 4.59. So much for trading him when the iron was hot.

On a side note – maybe we’ll see Prince Fielder in a Cubs uni next year?!?!

Jeff Baker homered in the 1st to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead and Reed Johnson cut the Brewers 5-1 lead to 5-4 with his 3-run bomb in the 4th inning, but it wasn’t enough.  Johnson, Blake DeWitt and DJ Lemahieu each had 2 hits in the loss.  The Cubs committed an error for what seems like the 50th game in a row.  It led to 2 unearned runs off of James Russell in the 7th inning that increased the Brewers lead to 7-4.

News Flash – Cubs defeated the Brewers today 12-7 to take 3 of 4 from the Brewers this week at Wrigley…

With another storm heading towards Chicago, each team knew they had to score early and often to be ahead in a game that was certainly going to be rain-shortened at some point before 9 innings were played.  The Cubs took a 4-1 lead after 1 inning of play courtesy of 2-out, 2-run doubles from Reed Johnson and Alfonso Soriano in a clutch hitting performance.  But Casey Coleman and Justin Berg gave it right back by allowing the Mets to take command with a 5-run 2nd inning.  Coleman recorded only 4 outs in his start — 6 ER on 7 hits and 1 walk.  Why is he still in the rotation?  Manager Mike Quade went with young gun Justin Berg to get Coleman out of the 2nd inning jam, but what did he do?  Berg literally threw 12 pitches – all balls – to walk in 2 runs in a miserable effort.  James Russell came on to save the day and keep the game close by striking out the final 2 batters of the game with the bases loaded and only 1 out.  Sure the Cubs trailed 6-4, but it could have been worse.  With the rain coming, the Cubs knew they needed to score and score soon, but they could never muster anything else off of Dillon Gee the rest of the way.  The game was eventually called after 6 full innings of play.

It was another frustrating loss in another frustrating year for the Cubs…

Ouch — what an ugly loss – 15-5, 4 more errors from the Cubs defense.  Just when you thought they might make a turn after winning 2 over the Marlins in Miami this week, they go back to their “old” losing ways in Boston.

Doug Davis was downright bad – 7 ER on 8 hits and 3 walks with 3 K’s in just 3 2/3 innings pitched.  Scott Maine recorded just 1 out in his work durnig the 4th and 5th innings.  He gave up 3 ER on 5 hits with 1 walk. And Jeff Samardzija had his 1st bad outing in a while, turning a 10-5 laugher into an embarrassing 15-5 riot.  He gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and 2 walks in the bottom of the 8th inning.  All in all, the Red Sox pounded out 19 hits including 2 home runs.

James Russell was the only effective Cubs pitcher as he tossed 3 scoreless innings in the middle of the game.

Jeff Baker did have a good night at the plate – 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored.  Aramis Ramirez followed that up with 3 hits and an RBI.  Alfonso Soriano and Reed Johnson each had 2 hits in the loss.

The pressure is now on Carlos Zambrano and Matt Garza to try to salvage the series against the Red Sox at Fenway park in Boston this weekend.

I love to be wrong in situations like this, as Casey Coleman led the Cubs to a 2-game sweep of the Marlins in Miami with a convincing 5-1 win.

Coleman picked up his 2nd win of the season, throwing 109 pitches in 5 2/3 scoreless innings.  Manager Mike Quade brought in the recently called up Scott Maine to get Coleman out of trouble in the bottom of the 6th inning after Coleman walked 2 batters with 2 outs in the inning.  Maine made it a little scary but Byrd cuaght Wes Helms’ deep drive to center field to end the inning.

And how about John Grabow — he has given up just 1 ER in his last 10 appearances and he notched his 4th hold of the season with a scoreless 7th inning.  If Grabow can regain the form that made him such an effective reliever before he signed a 3-year free agent deal with the Cubs, the Cubs bullpen will be that much deeper as the season progresses.

Kerry Wood gave up the Marlins only run on a homer to Mike Stanton.  Wood is trending in the exact opposite direction as Grabow — in his last 5 trips to the mound, Wood has 2 blown saves and 2 losses, and has given up 7 runs (3 earned) on 10 hits and 3 walks.  Not good.

Carlos Marmol worked a scoreless 9th inning in a non-save situation.

At the plate, Reed Johnson got the Cubs out to an early lead with an RBI double in the 2nd inning.  Marlon Byrd continues to swing a hot bat.  He had 2 more hits including a 2-run home run in the 4th inning that increased the Cubs lead to 3-0.  And Starlin Castro had 2 hits including a 2-run double in the top of the 9th inning that gave the Cubs some breathing room heading into the bottom of the inning with a 4-run lead.

After an atrocious start to the tough road trip with 2 frustrating losses to the 1st place Reds, it was nice to see the Cubs bounce back against the Marlins.  The Cubs now trail the Cards by 5.5 games in the NL Central and need a 3-game sweep over the Red Sox in Boston this weekend in order to get back within 1 game of the .500 mark…